Expat in the Philippines » Expat in the Philippineshttp://expatinthephilippines.com
a Dutch expat spends his life in the PhilippinesTue, 03 Mar 2015 12:02:24 +0000en-UShourly1Learning Tagalog – 2http://expatinthephilippines.com/learning-tagalog-2/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/learning-tagalog-2/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 11:20:16 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=837For those people who have start learning Tagalog, the only official language in the Philippines next to English, I’ll give some links where you can have some on-line lessons. For an expat to be accepted faster in the Philippines itRead more...

]]>For those people who have start learning Tagalog, the only official language in the Philippines next to English, I’ll give some links where you can have some on-line lessons.
For an expat to be accepted faster in the Philippines it would be best to learn a few phrases and small sentences in Tagalog. Filipinos will smile even more at you, and you will be accepted much easier.
Expats living in the Visayas and those in Mindanao would say: why Tagalog; It is not the language spoken by the majority of Filipinos. They are right, but Tagalog is an official Filipino language, one of the subjects in all schools and the basic official language in the country. I also realize that Cebuano or Visaya are widely spoken and considered ‘official languages’, but by law they are not.

Paul Morrow’s excellent site about Philippine history, language, writing, etc (includes a tutorial on how to write with the Tagalog alphabet and free Tagalog fonts)

Most people in the Philippines however, are using a mixture of Tagalog and English called TAGLISH. Filipinos also have the habit of using English words but pronounce it and write it the Filipino way.
For example: karwas = carwash; imbestigador = investigator
Check also my gallery page English and Taglish with examples of the way Taglish or English is used in the Philippines.
One of the local TV stations (ABS-CBN) has a show (every saturday) called: WANSAPANATAYM. I know, this is just the name of a TV show, but it illustrates their use of English. To understand the Philippine people better and to make them laugh at foreigners it is advised to learn some of their complicated language.

If you think: Hey learning Tagalog is something I could try, check one of the websites below:

If you do not have iTunes installed on your computer, you need to do so for viewing some files. (I am not a big Apple fan, and I installed iTunes, but I am still not able to open these files …. after some trying I got it. It is not very easy…. Maybe that’s why I hate Apple..;-) )

Enjoy learning and understanding this beautiful but complicated language. Have fun with it and enjoy the smiling faces when you talk a few words to the Filipino people.

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/learning-tagalog-2/feed/0Filipinos and moneyhttp://expatinthephilippines.com/filipinos-and-money/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/filipinos-and-money/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 03:25:28 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=813Being an expat foreigner in the Philippines, I am considered rich. Perhaps because Filipinos think there is a money tree in my backyard, spouting bills of 500 and 1000 pesos every day. What I tell them jokingly most of theRead more...

]]>Being an expat foreigner in the Philippines, I am considered rich. Perhaps because Filipinos think there is a money tree in my backyard, spouting bills of 500 and 1000 pesos every day.
What I tell them jokingly most of the times: Go to the plant shop nearby and buy your own
Filipinos and money, is a never ending ‘love’ story…Note: Not all Filipinos are like I am writing about in this article.

Filipinos and money, a difficult combination

As you probably know, many Filipinos have no concept of being self-reliant or self-sufficient. It is standard operating procedure to assume that rich people should give them money, instead of trying to get a job and work for it. This can be seen all over the country.

OFW, Overseas Foreign Worker

Many families have one, or sometimes more, family members working abroad. It is part of Filipino culture to support the family, especially the parents, because they fed you, send you to school and the like. Once such sibling is abroad and sends money home, the whole family does not need to have a job anymore (they think). They will all benefit of the money send to them. The sibling, sending the money, will even be asked to send more, because it is never enough.

Wrong spending habits

While us, foreigners, save some money every month to buy expensive items we want or need, only very few Filipinos are saving some for the future or for unexpected costs.
Many Filipinos in the Philippines make damn good money. Salaries of 25,000 pesos are not rare. Yet it keeps on amazing me that a few days after they are paid, the money is finished.
It is easy: Every 15th and 30th of the month it is PAYDAY. Malls and department stores are always planning their sales on these days or the weekend after these days. Which is normal marketing, this happens also in the rest of the world.
Check (fast food) restaurants around and immediately after payday: They are loaded, from early morning to late night. The excuse is: Why not treat ourselves once or twice a month.
Problem is that they cannot afford such spending. Their debts have to wait until there is some money left; even electricity and water bills have to wait. Spending money they do not have, is the most important.
Some Sari-Sari storeowners are only giving credit if the client gives his bankcard as a security and on payday, the Sari-Sari owner accompanies the client to the bank and will receive his money first.

Moreover, it never ceases to amaze me how just 3 days after payday, they go to their employer asking for an advance again, because their last paycheck was short because of the deduction of the advance from last period.

“Sir, my wife needs an ultrasound scan”. “For what?”, will be the question, “So we can know if it’s a boy or girl, and have the snapshots for posting on Facebook. Sir, all our friends get ultrasounds. It’s a Filipino tradition these days.”

But what’s even funnier is, they’ve got the latest iPhone in their pocket and wearing brand name shoes and clothes that cost 5 times more than they’re worth.
Filipinos prioritize giving the illusion they are much better off financially than they really are. This is why they continually spend money they don’t have on things they can’t afford, like that awesome cell phone, the latest hair style, the latest trending fashion, manicures, pedicures, facials, and to make sure it’s seen by their Facebook friends. So when it comes to things like food, rent, school tuition, etc, they put on the sad face and go to their employer, their cousin’s foreigner husband, or their foreigner employer to “borrow” money.
If you try to help them with good common sense advice on how to budget, plan, and be responsible, you can be sure they are shut off, not listening, and do not care about such friendly and well intended advice.

“I need money for the tuition for my child, sir” “You know exactly when your tuition is due every semester, yet you bought the newest iPhone 2 months ago, to replace the iPhone you bought 6 months ago. The cost of that iPhone would have paid for how many semesters? And now you’re coming to me to realistically pay for your iPhone, not your tuition. Because you spent your tuition money on the iPhone, because you refuse to be responsible.”

What is so knee-slapping hilarious about these ‘dumb’ people is, they don’t realize we actually can see the money they spend so frivolously. Secondly, I honestly think they believe that having the best of everything, so they can show off their new stuff, is a total necessity. Well, the only thing it shows me is how good they are at getting other people to give them money. Moreover, they actually believe that it is honorable. They have no clue how fucking pathetic it is.
9 times out of 10, the need for all the most UNNECESSARY THINGS are what they have their hand out for. When a Filipino comes to you with their problem, it is usually for something they do not NEED, but just WANT.

Borrowing is part of the culture

It is something I have never been able to understand completely. I think we can all admit there have been times in our lives when we tossed out common sense and practicality to get something we really wanted. We can recognize that when it happens, and most of us learn from it, and get more responsible and disciplined with maturity. We all know that borrowing money costs extra money, interest are high and need to be paid. The so-called 5-6 lenders are doing well. They are the ones who know how to get rich and are misusing the Filipino ‘culture’. Many of these lenders are Pakistani or Indian. A general name for them is ‘Bombay”.
But most Filipinos make irresponsibility, no common sense, and social climbing a way of life.
Just another reason why it is so easy to see why things are so desperately fucked up in the Philippines.

Go to a Car dealer and all you see is the prices for cars, or motorbikes, just the down payment number mentioned and in small letters how much per month. They never mention how many months one has to pay. Filipinos do not seem to care. They buy and buy and buy more, and all on installment basis, not realizing that the items have to be paid twice or trice because of the long time they have to pay.
Check on bank websites and search for repossessed cars and motorbikes. You will be amazed how many items you will find. The same goes for real estate. Filipinos ‘borrow’ too much and buy too much on installment that in the end the items are taken back from them without compensation. But hey, that’s the Filipino culture!! Their financial problems will never be solved.

And here lies a nice task for government, schools and the like: Teach them and encourage them to save money first before buying something, they do not NEED. Most of these people do not have a sense of responsibility because their parents never learned them. What can and will a parent do, who only knows how to swindle and lie, to teach their children? These children learn primarily how to be dependent all the time!

And that’s because someone, somewhere is always willing to bail them out, be it Aunties, Uncles, big sister abroad etc. While the Filipino culture perpetuates this sense of entitlement and dependency, they will forever have their palms up to anyone who cares….or not even care! It is worth a try. And I am sure that a lot of these money “need, emergencies” are just a form of sport for the Filipino, see if and how much they can get away with, see if the dumb Kano brother in law or the sucker OFW sister opens his or her wallet.

Conclusion: Most Filipinos set the wrong priorities all the time. Gadgets are more important than tuition fees for the children or even food on the table.
And as long as there are morons, be it family or others, helping these people, they will never learn.

NOTE: the above is strictly my opinion, living as an expat in the Philippines. Comments are welcome.

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/filipinos-and-money/feed/2Slow internet connection in the Philippineshttp://expatinthephilippines.com/slow-internet-connection-in-the-philippines/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/slow-internet-connection-in-the-philippines/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 08:26:15 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=801Compared to other (more developed) countries The Philippines has internet connection much slower than technically possible. The reason behind this is partly technical, but most of all unwillingness of the ISP. To explain how Internet exactly works is too muchRead more...

]]>Compared to other (more developed) countries The Philippines has internet connection much slower than technically possible. The reason behind this is partly technical, but most of all unwillingness of the ISP.

To explain how Internet exactly works is too much for this blog, there are other websites who can give a much better explanation than I can.

Actual internet connection

The biggest problem is the fight between the few monopolizing ISP in the Philippines. PLDT, Globe, Smart and Sky among a few others.
By default all internet and telecom traffic routes via servers in Hong Kong. Even SMS or Text as it is called in the Philippines, is send through these servers in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Internet eXchange or HK IX). Because of the rivalry between these providers it sometimes takes hours of delay if one sends a text (SMS) from a Globe account to for example Smart. Their own networks are the first to use the big cable, placed on the ocean floor.
Such connecting cables are owned and operated by so-called Backbone providers like PACNET, Level3, UUNet etc.
Internet Service Providers, but also Telecom providers, have to buy traffic space with those Backbones to send their traffic.
A law has passed in the Philippines that all ISP must be able to connect freely to an IX for data to be transported freely between the customers of these ISP. But this does not mean that customers of Globe or Sky or others can access data servers outside the PLDT network, which is common practice in the whole world, even dictatorial countries, only NOT in the Philippines.
Through the backbones from the providers as named above, one gets a connection with the rest of the world. It is far too expensive for ISP’s to have their own backbones cables. ISP’s are paying for the data transfer through these large backbones for their clients.
PLDT is a very powerful telecom provider in the Philippines. Because of this immense power, they are defying the law of interconnection; they keep their prices high and the bandwidth low. Other telecom providers are no angels either, but they are following the law of interconnection.
Due to the behavior of PLDT prices for Internet are that high and bandwidth so low. The Philippines has the kind of Internet Europe had at the beginning of this millennium. The Philippines claims to be a country of progress and tries to be a modern country, but actually, they are 10 or more years behind.

Globe has a stake in the world’s most powerful fiber cable in the sea. That is the reason that PLDT is afraid to lose their stranglehold on the consumers and that they have to accept that the competitor has a much better product. Globe however, has one of the worst educated customer service / support staff in the Philippines.
PLDT is powerful but incompetent to provide something important as a good Internet connection. One good example of how PLDT thinks about themselves: Some PACNET technicians and officials were busy setting up a multi gigabit transit in Manila (a hub to direct the traffic), in co-operation with PLDT; and they explained that PACNET was completely surprised by the demands of PLDT that they (PLDT) should be paid when they needed backbone capacity from PACNET. Their reason behind it was that they (PACNET) could not serve the Philippine people properly without them (PLDT). PLDT was claiming that they should get paid for their customers to get access to PACNET.
Now you need to take a break, read it again and think this over….
PACNET is a company with the main business: SELLING backbone capacity across South East Asia. And PLDT wanted PACNET to pay, so PLDT could get backbone capacity from PACNET.
I wonder if stupidity is also part of: More Fun in the Philippines?

Better internet connection possible?

To solve the problems in the Philippines’ internet infrastructure, and give the end user a better internet connection, there is only one remedy: Get rid of all those corrupt representatives that also do not understand technology, and name a few competent people and let them handle the problems. (Maybe after the next elections???)

The Filipino government should create a unified IX, that mandates you have to interconnect a certain bandwidth per subscriber with a minimum bandwidth of 1 Gigabit. In addition, implement something that a company looses the right to do Telco services if they are not connected to the public IX. This would solve most connectivity issues for all companies doing online services in Philippines.

Note: I found this article some time ago on the internet, but cannot remember exactly where. I rewrote it into more understandable language.

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/slow-internet-connection-in-the-philippines/feed/0overstaying foreigners in the Philippineshttp://expatinthephilippines.com/overstaying-foreigners-in-the-philippines/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/overstaying-foreigners-in-the-philippines/#commentsSat, 28 Feb 2015 14:33:41 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=793Overstaying foreigners are citizens of countries, not the Philippines, who are staying in the Philippines without proper staying permit. Staying permits are: all kinds of visa, balikbayan status, SRRV and the like. The Bureau of Immigration has started a campaignRead more...

]]>Overstaying foreigners are citizens of countries, not the Philippines, who are staying in the Philippines without proper staying permit.
Staying permits are: all kinds of visa, balikbayan status, SRRV and the like.

The Bureau of Immigration has started a campaign that it rewards people when they report an illegal foreigner in the Philippines.See the image at the right and click on it for a larger version.

Who are overstaying foreigners

Why are they doing so? Just a wild guess: They know that many foreigners have entered the Philippines but never left the country or applied for a staying permit or visa. They want them to be registered officially. Perhaps these foreigners have a criminal record in their home country and do not want to leave the Philippines. Others might have other reasons.
For this reason the Bureau of Immigration has launched its campaign: Good guys in, bad guys out, in order to catch some of these foreigners while rewarding the people who report these illegal aliens.

Another registration order

At the same time another campaign is running at the Bureau of Immigration: Foreigners who do not have a SRRN number yet, (Social Security Registration Number) are required to go to one of the offices and have their fingerprints and pictures taken for the BI database.
See the image at the right and click on it for a larger version.

My opinion is that they are now ready to digitize all information.
I remember from a few years ago, that I also had my fingerprints and picture taken digitally, but I was also asked to have pictures and fingerprints on paper taken. When I was asking why it should be done on two separate ways the answer was: “Just in case the computers are failing, sir!”
Maybe now they realize or have implemented better servers with a secure back up installed. And the large mountain of papers, which can be found in many government offices can be filed for ever. The Philippines is entering the digital era!!!
And it’s about time, check this blog! Immigration sometimes is was a nightmare.

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/overstaying-foreigners-in-the-philippines/feed/2Boxing fight of the centuryhttp://expatinthephilippines.com/boxing-fight-of-the-century/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/boxing-fight-of-the-century/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 12:11:01 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=783The Philippines have been waiting 5 years for it to happen, and now it is coming near. The Fight of the Century Imagine Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal not playing each other, or Djokovic. Or Jenson Button and Lewis HamiltonRead more...

]]>The Philippines have been waiting 5 years for it to happen, and now it is coming near.

The Fight of the Century

Imagine Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal not playing each other, or Djokovic.
Or Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton refusing to race against each other.
Sounds crazy, but in boxing it can happen that two great rivals go through their careers without ever meeting.

Manny Pacquiao with the nick name of Pacman, is the first and only boxer in the world to have won world titles in 8 different weight classes. He is 36 years old and aside from being a boxer he is in politics for the Province of Sarangani (Southern Philippines, the most southern part of the Island Mindanao) in the Philippine House of Representatives.
He boxed 64 matches of which he won 57 (38 by KO). He has been named: Fighter of the decade (2000), Fighting Pride of the Philippines, The Destroyer, The Filipino Slugger and The Fighting Congressman among many other ‘titles’.
His opponent, Floyd Mayweather Jr (38 years of age), is currently undefeated as a professional boxer, and is a champion in 5 divisions. He has boxed 47 matches and won them all (26 in KO). He also has many ‘titles’ such as the best ‘pound-for-pound’ boxer, but Pacquiao also claims that title.
The fight will be the most expensive in history. Both fighters are getting most of the money; they have agreed in a 60-40 contract. Mayweather will receive a minimum of 120 million US$ and Pacquiao will get a minimum of 80 million.

Expensive tickets

Tickets for the fight of the century live event in MGM Las Vegas are costing a fortune (4175 US$ and up), even watching the event live on Pay-per-view will cost 100 US$. Tickets to see the match live are available at the black market for prices around 20,000 US$.
Do you want to buy a ticket? Check the website of TicIQ for the availability and their price.
Hotel rooms in the MGM (over 5000 rooms) were sold out within 15 minutes after the event was announced (cheapest room 500 US$). Several other large hotels in the surroundings are sold out as well.

Best Boxer in history

Mayweather, so far undefeated, would like to retire, but without facing Pacquiao his legacy would always have some question marks. Actually, the fight should have taken place when they were both in their primes, about 5 years ago. Pacquiao has challenged him already for more than 5 years to find out who really is the best boxer of the decade. We will have to wait until after the fight.

Filipinos want to see the fight

The Philippines is a country where interruptions of power occur every now and then. A few weeks ago it was announced that starting April 2015, the whole island of Luzon will have power interruptions of two hours. Politicians in the Senate have asked the Department of Energy to take action to ensure there will be no power interruption on May 2. Senator Recto even said that the officials who are not able to take care for it, probably will be ‘knocked out’ of their offices. Filipinos have the right to see this fight of the century ‘live’.

Trivia

The biggest boxing event in the 20th century was the first fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in 1971. Ringside seats were US$ 150 and each man was guaranteed 2.5 million dollars. (Compare that with the numbers of today’s fight.) Frazier won.
The third fight of these two was in Manila in 1975, it was named Thrilla in Manila. In the lead-up to the Manila fight as well as each of their other two encounters, Frazier was made to withstand a withering barrage of verbal abuse from Ali. When the fighters and their corner men met at the center of the ring for the referee’s instructions, Ali continued his verbal assault on Joe Frazier, finishing with the taunt: “You don’t have it, Joe, you don’t have it! I’m going to put you away!” In response, Frazier smiled and said ‘We’ll see.” The fight was ended between the 14th and 15th round by the referee. Ali won.
The Philippines’ first multi-level commercial shopping mall was named after Muhammad Ali as a tribute to his victory. The mall is named Ali Mall and is located in Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City right beside the Araneta Coliseum in which the “Thrilla in Manila” took place. It still stands today.

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/boxing-fight-of-the-century/feed/0Sweet foodhttp://expatinthephilippines.com/sweet-food/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/sweet-food/#commentsWed, 25 Feb 2015 05:56:48 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=759A little history Today, exactly 27 years ago, I first set foot on Philippine soil. It was the anniversary of the People’s Power Revolution. When I look back, I have noticed that the country has changed a lot. And notRead more...

Today, exactly 27 years ago, I first set foot on Philippine soil. It was the anniversary of the People’s Power Revolution.
When I look back, I have noticed that the country has changed a lot. And not always for the better.
Corruption is worse than in 1988, streets are polluted, traffic has gone hectic while nothing or very little has been done to improve the infrastructure and sweet food among many more things.

This is just the intro of today’s real story :

Sweet food

One of these ‘many more things’ is the sweet food. I am not talking about the general food recipes like Adobo, and the like, but the bread. Filipinos have started to put lots of sugar in many food products. One good example is the Filipino style Spaghetti, but there are many more. How about the ‘honey-ham’ or any other Filipino style ham or bacon?

Back in 1988 I liked the ‘pandesal’ (spanish for bread with salt) a lot. Not that they were salty, on the contrary, they tasted perfect, it is just the name. Nowadays this little bread is so sweet; actually, the name should be changed into ‘pan-de-azucar’. The same with other bread one can buy in food stores and bakeries. They all contain lots of sugar, even whole wheat bread.

No wonder that recent studies have revealed that 8 out of 10 Filipinos have caries. Eating so much sweet food, drinking lots of soda and eating too many candies are the reasons for that.

My eating habit

I like to eat open sandwiches for my lunch with slices of meat or cheese and accompanied by a glass of cold milk. But I have had problems finding good tasting bread. I prefer whole wheat bread, because it is healthy and has a lot of fiber in it. One brand which is acceptable is Gardenia, but it still contains lots of sugar, although less than other brands. I should also mention that I like sweets a lot, but not in my bread. I eat a lot of candies, and drink my coffee with lots of sugar but the sweet taste of ordinary bread ruins it all.
“OK”, I hear you say, “But you can buy French bread all over the Philippines!” These long thin white or whole wheat bread. Exact, that is what I am also buying from time to time. Problem is that they need to be reheated in the oven to become crispy and tasteful.

Happy now

Lately I am buying my bread at Shopwise (belongs to Rustan’s). A supermarket chain in and around Manila. I have found my preferred bread there at a reasonable price. It is made of whole wheat and costs 46 pesos a loaf. The shape is that of an American Football, and I have to slice it myself. See the picture on top of this post.

For some time last year, they also sold Rye bread (in Rustan’s only), which I liked even more. But on a certain moment they started adding caraway seeds in the bread and I did not like that very much, so I stopped buying it. Now I do not see this bread anymore. Maybe They are going to read this blog…(Wishful thinking ??)
So once a week I am heading for Cubao or Libis, both in Quezon City, to buy my delicious whole wheat bread and I can enjoy my perfect lunch. And I am buying enough for the whole week. At home I am putting them in the freezer so they stay fresh. And if you are lucky there is a special offer: 2 for the price of 1.
Also at Shopwise there’s a wide variety of meats and sausages and cheese to put on my bread. I only have to take care that I am not choosing any: honey-ham or other Filipino style sausages to accompany my bread.

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/sweet-food/feed/0food not sexhttp://expatinthephilippines.com/food-not-sex/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/food-not-sex/#commentsSun, 22 Feb 2015 09:16:02 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=678Somewhere in 2009, I was in Cubao on the corner of EDSA and Aurora blvd. when I saw a strange white thing hanging on a lamppost. When I came nearby, I realized that I was lucky to bring my cameraRead more...

]]>Somewhere in 2009, I was in Cubao on the corner of EDSA and Aurora blvd. when I saw a strange white thing hanging on a lamppost. When I came nearby, I realized that I was lucky to bring my camera again.

It was a piece of Styrofoam with a simple text carved on it.

food not sex

On the backside of this advertisement was a similar text but this time in Tagalog.

The text is “Pagkain, hindi kantutan“, which means: Food, not screwing (where the Tagalog word is known as vulgar).

pagkain hindi kantutan = food no fucking

When I noticed it, I realized that it was a kind of protest against something.

Seeing this way of protest from somebody makes me thinking. Would it just be someone who has many children and no food to feed them? On the other hand, could it be that it is someone who is against the way a nearby hotel is advertising?
The hotel is offering relaxation, and one can rent a room for just a few hours. Unnecessary to explain to you what kind of people go there. So maybe a frustrated wife of a regular customer in that hotel put this advertising.

Or could it be that there is another reason?

It is a fact that a lot of people in the Philippines do not earn enough to feed their family and themselves. I am almost thinking that someone from this last category has placed this sign.

It is also a known fact that on these footbridges, crossing Edsa and Aurora blvd, many people are offering their bodies in exchange for some money or food.

On the other hand, could it be that it is someone who lament about how the government widely promotes contraceptives (condoms, pills, etc.) as a response to the growing poverty rate in the Philippines? Many believe the government fails to address the real root problem of poverty, which is proper education. According to the reproductive health bill issue, it says the government will have to shell out up to around as much as 2 billion pesos for these contraceptives to be given away to people.
The real solution here could be better education of the masses, maybe it would take time but I guess it is all worth it rather than patching up one wrong thing with another wrong. It only aggravates the situation!

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/food-not-sex/feed/0Driving your car in Manilahttp://expatinthephilippines.com/driving-your-car-in-manila/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/driving-your-car-in-manila/#commentsSat, 21 Feb 2015 15:50:59 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=670Driving your own car in the Philippines Many years ago I have heard that driving in the Philippines and especially in Metro Manila can be compared with driving in hell. There is even a saying that goes: If you canRead more...

Many years ago I have heard that driving in the Philippines and especially in Metro Manila can be compared with driving in hell. There is even a saying that goes: If you can drive a car in Manila, you can drive everywhere in the world.

Metro Manila, or National Capital Region as it is called, counts more than 14 million people and is the most dense populated city in the world. All those people have to commute to work or school or otherwise every day. Most of them are using public transport like Jeepneys and Busses. From early morning until late at night, the roads in and around Manila are full with all kinds of vehicles and therefore often congested.

Driving is dangerous

Getting used to the Filipino style of driving a car, which is what I had to learn.

Filipinos blow their horn all the time for a number of reasons

They sign with their head lights

At crossings or changing lane, they sign with their hands instead of their (often not working) lights

Jeepneys, taxis, and busses stop on every place where a passenger is waiting or wants to get off

And on busy street corners you can see double-parked Jeepneys all the time and/or suddenly overtaking each other.

Sidewalks are used as parking space or selling space, pedestrians are forced to use the street.

Accidents happen

So one has to take care every second not to bump or being bumped. You can imagine that one needs six or eight eyes to see what is happening around you. People and vehicles come from everywhere: left, right, front and from the back. While driving, you need to be prepared that even the unexpected will happen. You do not have time to change radio channel; but you can see people using their mobile phone to call or compose text messages as if they are alone on the street and being parked, actually they are driving with a speed of 40 kmh or more.

Traffic signs are merely street decoration

Although officially there are traffic rules and traffic signs, there are only very few places where they are followed. Makati is such place. Police officers are very strict there if a driver does not follow the rules. Probably because most foreign businesses have their offices in Makati , so do many rich people.

In other places drivers do what they want: neglecting traffic lights, parking everywhere, overtaking over solid lines or on the right side etc. The so-called High Ways are used for all traffic. Not only cars and busses, but also the ‘everywhere stopping’ Jeepneys; motorbikes swerving from left to right and back, taxis trying to insert themselves from all directions, bicycles on the left side of the road, or just in the middle and even walking people crossing on every meter of the street usually without watching carefully. In addition, not to mention the tricycles, inserting themselves and driving slowly on the left side of the street or just in the middle. On one way streets don’t be surprised if cars and / or bicycles are coming towards you. If you blow your horn against them they even might get angry at you and block the road completely.

On a 2 lane street you can often see 3 or 4 rows of cars, tricycles, trucks and other traffic, all close to each other. At the same time people crossing the street and you’ll see a lot of double parked cars. There are also the street vendors who walk in between the rows of cars to try to sell their goods, sometimes bringing their small handcars with boiling stuff like peanuts, fish balls and so on. On the sidewalk you will find the street vendors with larger stalls, they have taken their place there, so pedestrians have to use the street as well. The result is that there is always traffic jam in the streets and sometimes you can go faster walking than driving.

traffic Manila

Traffic system

Add the bad roads, with potholes and cracks and on many street corners large concrete blocks to stop cars from going left or right. This has to do with the disobedient behavior of most Filipinos. They hate to wait for red traffic lights and they will never stop for orange. Even before the lights are turning green they start driving already. That is the reason the government has implemented u-turns. Roundabouts are also not the solution, because Filipinos are disobedient and pass the roundabout on the left side when they want a left turn – counter flowing.

After those closed crossings, there are usually U-turn slots. A one-lane option where a vehicle can turn and on the earlier mentioned crossing can go to the direction he wants. On busy u-turns, you see often 3 lanes blocking the rest of the street to take that u-turn. All other traffic has to wait -> more traffic jams.

Technical state of vehicles

The technical state of many cars is dubious. Tires do not have profile anymore, lights are not working, I even doubt if brakes are working well. Car engines are exhausting often black smoke, especially diesel engines from Jeepneys, busses, trucks and motorbikes (tricycles). Private cars mostly seem to be in better technical condition.

Even older cars are staying on the road. Sometimes they are rusty and have holes, or are full of dents and other damages. Picture this in combination with smoking engines; you can imagine that there is still a lot of work for the government to better this aspect of the Filipino society.

Color-coding

To reduce the traffic and the air pollution in larger cities, they have implemented “color coding”. Why they call it color coding is not clear to me. The system works as follows: every license plate has three letters and three or four numbers. The last digit is the one that says if the car is allowed to drive or not. Numbers 1 and 2 cannot drive on Mondays, 3 and 4 not on Tuesdays, and so on. Weekends and official holidays do not have color-coding. Some cities are very strict with the color-coding, other cities do not care. Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong and San Juan are very strict within the Metro Manila. In other cities, it depends on the mood and accuracy of the police officers. The 16 cities in the metro do not even have the same color coding schedules. Drivers from the provinces are often caught and given a ticket for not knowing the exact rules and regulations.

My Experience

I have been travelling through Europe and the US a lot, and always driving my own (or rented) car. Even big cities like Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Los Angeles, San Francisco and many others I did not have problems driving. Manila however is different. It really is hell. With an average speed of about 15 km per hour (or lower), it actually would have been better to take public transport. However, they are in the same traffic jam as me. The advantage of having your own transportation is that you can put the air conditioner on, drive with or without music and as loud or silent as you wish, and you do not have to carry your shopping bags all the way. Moreover, you are safer from snatchers if you do not drive with your windows open and your doors locked.

Rain, storm and typhoon advice

When there is a lot of rain falling, and it continues raining, big parts of Metro Manila will be flooded. Streets are flooded for sometimes hours, and no vehicle can go through. So if there’s lots of rain expected: stay at home (if you do not like to be stuck or get wet feet, or worse).

Beggars

While waiting for a traffic light or in a traffic jam your car will often be approached by children or elderly disabled persons trying to get money of you. Sometimes they just beg for it, and sometimes the wipe your windows a little. It is up to you to give them something or not.

So think it over if you like to buy and drive your own car in the Metro Manila area.

Have a safe trip!

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/driving-your-car-in-manila/feed/0Learning Tagalog-1http://expatinthephilippines.com/learning-tagalog-1/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/learning-tagalog-1/#commentsTue, 17 Feb 2015 13:51:21 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=587Almost every day I am learning a new word in Tagalog, one of the official languages of the Filipinos aside from English. One of the first words I can remember learning was ‘bulaklak’ = flower. Why this word? Probably becauseRead more...

]]>Almost every day I am learning a new word in Tagalog, one of the official languages of the Filipinos aside from English. One of the first words I can remember learning was ‘bulaklak’ = flower. Why this word? Probably because of the repetition of the last syllable in combination with the meaning of the word.
Over time I have learned to say good morning = ‘magandang umaga’ and good afternoon = ‘magandang hapon’. Good evening = ‘magandang gabi’, and Good noon= “magandang tanghali”. And I also learned some other things like: ‘salamat’ = thank you and ‘maraming salamat’ which is thank you very much.
I have also learned that one should add “po” to such phrase or saying. This little word is hard to translate, but as a user you show respect to the one you are addressing to. Thus “Salamat Po” means just Thank You, but by adding the “PO” it shows that you understand a little of the culture of the Philippines.

More new Tagalog words

Today (December 2009), while watching the news on TV, a commercial was shown for a pain killer. In it was a word to express how someone is feeling when very much in pain: excruciating pain (that’s how my wife Flor tried to explain it to me). The commercial is showing: an almost naked man stooped and in severe pain holding his head. (Why almost naked? I do not know).
The word shown on screen was “nakakapamaluktot“. When I saw the word I tried to pronounce it properly but broke my tongue on it a few times. Flor had to write it down for me so I could try to read it again and try to speak it. I have tried it many times and still I am not able to say the word properly. Maybe there are too many vowels in it.
Tagalog has many words like this one. It seems they combine two or more words together into one new word. That probably is the reason that there are so many very long words.
Many other words in Tagalog do have a repetition of one or more syllables a few times like the above-mentioned ‘bulaklak’. For me it sometimes is difficult to speak those words, because of its complex character.
Writing about this commercial suddenly reminds me of another very funny commercial where I learned some Tagalog:
‘Zipper mo bukas’ which means: your fly is open! Where a young man is trying to impress a young woman. See the commercial. There’s no further translation needed to understand it.

I am trying to understand Tagalog better, every single day, but it is difficult….

]]>http://expatinthephilippines.com/learning-tagalog-1/feed/0Street food in the Philippineshttp://expatinthephilippines.com/street-food-philippines/
http://expatinthephilippines.com/street-food-philippines/#commentsWed, 11 Feb 2015 04:06:21 +0000http://expatinthephilippines.com/?p=513All over the Philippines, you will see street food sellers. Especially in the afternoon, they show up everywhere, preparing their wares on the street and selling it to passers-by. Filipinos eat whole day, in small portions, but they eat wholeRead more...

]]>All over the Philippines, you will see street food sellers. Especially in the afternoon, they show up everywhere, preparing their wares on the street and selling it to passers-by.
Filipinos eat whole day, in small portions, but they eat whole day. To get some of the large variety of street food is convenient and easy. Most of these food products are sold on sticks and are easy to bring while doing their errands or on the way going home.

Among these street foods you will find all leftover’s from chicken after butchering. Nothing is thrown away, except feathers and bones. You will find the heads, feet, intestines and even the clotted blood, cut in cubes and grilled. Even complete one-day chicklets

Very well known and talked (and written) about is balut or balot. Balut is a duck egg, hatched for a few weeks so it has developed an embryo, but not fully grown. The egg is boiled, cooled down and is eaten like that, direct from the shell. Filipinos say it stimulates the libido! Could that be the reason there are so many children?

More harmless street foods (in my eyes) are prepared with bananas or sweet potatoes. In general they taste good and are not that dangerous to eat for people with sensitive stomach. Most of the time in egg roll or fried in oil, so it might be oily.

Peanuts and mani are also sold a lot. Boiled fresh peanuts or peeled and fried with garlic and/or pepper.

You will also find many, often orange-colored, balls. These could be chicken eggs or quail eggs in batter and fried in oil. Also fish and other ingredients are used to form in balls, battered and fried.

Often you will also see vendors selling green mangoes. These mangoes are not sweet (they haven’t ripened yet completely). Filipinos like to eat these mangoes with salt or vinegar. The story goes that pregnant women like them a lot.

And of course there’s the barbecue stick. Most of the time grilled pork meat.

Of course, this list is not complete. There are many more street foods, many only locally found. I did not list the varieties of ice cream and halo-halo. These are for another post.
Feel free to try one of these street foods if you think your stomach can handle it, or you are an adventurous person.
One more thing:
Filipinos like to dip their street food in a kind of vinegar where spices are added. A container with this vinegar is always present on the stall or cart.
Hygienic circumstances of preparing these foods are not always very good. For this reason, foreigners should be aware and check carefully if they are going to try some. Personally, I have tried a few of them, but I always take care in what I eat. My stomach does not let me eat anything I see.

Street food in the Philippines

All kinds of street foods in the Philippines. Eaten by many, liked by even more.